Methods of and systems for searching by incorporating user-entered information

ABSTRACT

A system for and a method of using user-entered information to return more meaningful information in response to Internet search queries are disclosed. A method in accordance with the present invention comprises managing a database in response to multiple user inputs and displaying search results from the database in response to a search query. The search results include a results list and supplemental data related to the search query. Managing the database includes, among other things, re-ranking elements in the results list, storing information related to relevancies of elements in the results list, blocking a link in the results list, storing links to documents related to the search query, or any combination of these. The supplemental data include descriptions of or indices to one or more concepts related to the search query.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of theco-pending U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/657,371, filed onFeb. 28, 2005, and titled “Search Engine that Incorporates User-EnteredInformation,” which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to search engines. More specifically, thisinvention relates to systems for and methods of searching the Internetby incorporating user-entered information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Internet search engines are designed to locate desired information fromamong the vast amount of information contained across the Internet.Users describe the information they are looking for by entering queriescontaining search terms. The search engine matches the search termsagainst an index of Web pages using a variety of relevance calculationswith the objective of identifying those Web pages that are most likelyrelated to the information sought by the users. The search engine thenreturns a ranked list of hyperlinks to these Web pages, with the linksdetermined to be most relevant nearer the top of the list.

In order to use a search engine, each user must figure out for himselfhow to construct and enter a query that will cause the search engine toreturn a results list containing links to sources that will most likelyprovide the information the user is seeking. Traditionally, searchingwas done by search experts who were skilled at crafting elaborate andprecise Boolean queries. This is a skill that is still in common use atplaces such as news organizations, libraries and the United StatesPatent Office. However, on the Internet, most users are unfamiliar withsuch techniques, and usually enter no more than a few words, with noparticular logical expression, hoping the search engine will provide theinformation they are seeking.

Most search engines today have as an objective of their user interactiondesign to provide relevant search results without requiring precisequeries, by factoring in other evidence about relevance. For example,search engines may analyze the hyperlinks between Web pages, or look fordocuments that contain terms that are semantically similar to the termsin the query, or demonstrate a high level of co-occurrence with terms inthe query over the corpus of documents.

Results returned by search engines can also be manipulated. Web siteowners can add content or meta data or hyperlinks from other Web sitesto their Web site, so that their Web pages are listed near the top ofresults lists, even though the Web pages do not contain information thatis highly related to a user's query. This practice is often referred toas Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”).

Because search techniques have limits and because search engines cannotdivine the intent of users in conducting searches, users are oftenunsatisfied or frustrated with the results returned by search engines.If the user happens to construct a query that yields satisfactoryresults, there is no mechanism by which he can share that query withother users who wish to do the same or a similar search. Likewise, thereis no mechanism for users to review input from others as they attempt toconstruct queries that will cause the search engine to return thedesired results. Search engines do not allow users to learn from oneanother, or to take advantage of successful searches conducted by oneanother.

The objective of search engines is not simply to provide lists of linksto documents, but ultimately to provide access to the most relevantinformation to users in response to their queries. Conventional searchengines provide primarily a ranked list of hyperlinks to Web pages thatare determined by computer algorithms to be relevant. Users looking foranswers to questions about a subject area must follow those hyperlinksand search around on those Web sites for the information they areseeking. Search engines do not return information about the subject, ordirect answers to questions in addition to links to Web sites. When, forexample, a user enters a query for “Calgary Alberta” the results pagedoes not contain information such as: Location: Lat: 51′ 1″, Long: 114′1″ and Population: 922,315, in addition to a link to a “City of Calgary”Web page along with the conventional results list.

Additionally, search engines have a difficult time disambiguatingbetween different concepts that can be described by the same query term.For example the query “star wars” may refer both to the movie “StarWars” and to the Strategic Defense Initiative. Attempts have been madeto develop algorithms such as clustering or semantic analysis in orderto determine which concept a user is searching for when he enters aquery, but so far with limited success. Often users have knowledge ofthe concept to which their query pertains. It would be advantageous ifthose users were able to enter this relevant information to help thesearch engine disambiguate between that concept and other relatedconcepts. This information would also help other users to understand theconcept and assist in the process of searching for information about theconcept.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to systems for and methods ofreceiving inputs from users of search engines to provide better searchresults to users of the system. In accordance with the presentinvention, a community of users is able to manage a database from whichsearch results and other information related to searches are generated.Among other things, users are able to vote on the relevance of elementsin a result list, add supplemental information such as links to relatedWeb sites, and run other searches using user-entered andcomputer-generated search terms. In this way, search results are able toprovide users with more relevant information.

In a first aspect of the present invention, a method comprises managinga database in response to multiple user inputs and displaying searchresults from the database in response to a first search query.Preferably, the search results include a results list and supplementaldata related to the first search query. Managing the database includesany combination of re-ranking elements in the results list, storinginformation related to relevancies of elements in the results list,blocking a link in the results list, storing links to documents relatedto the first search query.

In accordance with the present invention, search results are able to beranked in response to users tagging sites they think are relevant, evenif they visit the site outside of the context of a search, or even ifthey tag it with terms other than the search query in the first search.

In one embodiment the supplemental data includes a description of afirst concept related to the first search query. In one embodiment,managing the database includes any one of adding, editing, and deletingthe description of the first concept. In other embodiments, thedescription of the first concept contains a link to a description of asecond concept related to the first concept. In another embodiment, thesupplemental data includes an index into a list of concepts related toone or both of the first concept and the second concept. The secondconcept is any one of a sub-category of the first concept, aco-occurrence of the first concept, and a concept whose occurrence isstatistically related to occurrences of the first concept. Arelationship between the first concept and the second concept isdetermined by selecting one of predetermined criteria, user-enteredcategories, and a statistical relationship.

In another embodiment, the supplemental data includes a link forautomatically executing a second search query related to the firstsearch query. A term of the second search query is either input by auser or is determined by a computer. The computer-determined term isderived from-any one of its co-occurrence in a document containing aterm of the first search query, its location within a documentcontaining a term of the first search query, and a density of itsoccurrences in a document containing a term of the first search query.In one embodiment, the method also includes using a suspension criterionto suspend an ability of a user to provide user input data.

In a second aspect of the present invention, a method comprisessubmitting a query to a search engine, generating a search results list,retrieving supplemental information related to the query, and displayinga results page containing the search results list and the supplementalinformation. User input is used to modify at least one of the searchresults list and the supplemental information.

In a third aspect of the present invention, a method of displayingsearch results in relation to input from first and second users fromamong multiple users comprises generating first search results inresponse to a first query, receiving input from the first user,modifying a database in response to the input from the first user,receiving a second query related to the first query, and displaying tothe second user second search results generated from the database.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, a system comprises a Webserver configured to display search results and supplemental informationrelated to terms of a first search query; a search engine for querying adatabase and providing a search results list in response to userqueries; and a content manager for managing the supplemental informationin response to multiple user inputs. Preferably, the system alsoincludes a first data store coupled to the content manager for storingthe supplemental information.

In one embodiment, the content manager is configured to receive themultiple user inputs for updating the supplemental information.Preferably, the system also includes a display area for displaying thesupplemental information. The supplemental information includes adescription of a first concept related to the first search query. Thesupplemental information includes a link to a description of a secondconcept. In one embodiment, the content manager is configured to receivethe multiple user inputs to add, edit, or delete the link. In anotherembodiment, the content manager is configured to receive the multipleusers input to add, edit, or delete the description of the firstconcept.

In another embodiment, the system also includes an area that displayslinks for automatically executing a second search query related to thefirst search query. Preferably, the system also includes a search enginefor organizing the search results based on the multiple user inputs. Thesearch engine is configured to organize the search results based on themultiple user inputs by ranking the search results. The system alsoincludes a user device for executing the Web server. The user device isone of a personal computer, a portable phone, and a personal digitalassistant and is configured to communicate with the Web server using anyone or more of HyperText Transfer Protocol and Wireless ApplicationProtocol.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a graphical user interfacedisplaying a list of search results incorporating user-enteredinformation in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of an Internetsearch application in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the components of an Internetsearch application flow diagram in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a hardware diagram illustrating the components of an Internetsearch application in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention, unlike traditional search engines,make use of supplemental information to provide more relevantinformation to users searching the Internet, more particularly wherethis supplemental information is user-entered. For example, inaccordance with the present invention, a first user performing a searchis able to add user-entered information about performing searches forinformation regarding a concept referenced by the query. The first useris able to enter (1) a description of a concept related to the query,(2) advice for performing a search relating to that concept, (3) “seealso” hyperlinks to query terms associated with related concepts, (4)related or suggested query terms, (5) feedback on the relevance of theresults to his search, or (6) any other information. Additionally someor all of this information can be generated by computer algorithms, Webcrawlers or other technology. A second user performing a similar orrelated search is then able to view this supplemental information inaddition to a results list provided by the search engine, therebyobtaining search results that are more likely most relevant to him. Thissecond user is also able to add user-entered information. Both users areable to share information related to the subject of the search. Acommunity of users is thus able to share information that helps users toquickly evaluate and more accurately use and provide search results.

A database includes a corpus of information used to supplement searchresults lists, search indices themselves, and any combination of these:data that users of a search find useful, a record of data entered byusers of the search, such as by saving, rating, blocking, writing,editing, or deleting data. The database is spread among one or more datastores and systems. Also, as described below, the database is able to bemanaged in response to user inputs.

In accordance with other embodiments of the present invention, searchresults also include selected items for display including, but notlimited to, (1) mechanisms for providing feedback on the relevance oflinks in the results list, (2) mechanisms for saving links that are ableto be displayed on personal search pages or voting for relevant links,and (3) mechanisms for “blocking” links to Web pages that are unrelatedto the search result or are offensive in nature. Other embodimentsinclude displays and links to related search terms and sponsored links.

Throughout the following description, the term “search engine” refers toan apparatus (or programs running on general purpose computers) thattake as input a query and return a results list of hyperlinks toelectronic documents or Web pages. The search engine includes the indexof documents in its corpus, the code and algorithms that determine therelevance of each document, and the graphical user interface thatdelivers the results list to the user.

Throughout the following description the term “query” refers to a set ofterms submitted to the search engine whether typed, spoken, submittedthrough a “link” that already has embedded a set of search terms, orsubmitted by any other interface. A query can comprise a single word,multiple words, or phrases. The query can be phrased as a question(e.g., a “natural language” query), a loose set of terms, or astructured Boolean expression. Indeed, a query can comprise symbols orany other characters used by a search engine to search for electronicdocuments or Web pages containing or related to the search characters.

Throughout the following description, the term “Web site” refers to acollection of Web pages that are linked together and are available onthe World Wide Web. The term “Web page” refers to a publicationaccessible over the World Wide Web from any number of hosts andincludes, but is not limited to, text, video, images, music, andgraphics.

Throughout the following description, the term “results list” refers toa list of hyperlinks that reference documents or Web Pages that areaccessible using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or any otherprotocol for accessing Web pages or other electronic documents, alongwith other associated information for each link, including, but notlimited to, titles of the documents, summaries of the documents, linksto cached copies of the documents, the date on which the documents werelast indexed or last modified, images associated with or located withinthe documents, and information extracted from the documents.

As used herein, the term “document” is defined broadly, and includes, inaddition to its ordinary meaning, computer files and Web pages, whetherthose pages are actually stored or are generated dynamically in responseto a request to display. The term “document” is not limited to computerfiles containing text, but also includes computer files containinggraphics, audio, video, and other multimedia data.

As described in greater detail below, a search engine takes a queryentered by a user, and matches the search terms against an index of Webpages using a variety of relevance calculations with the objective ofidentifying those Web pages that are most likely related to theinformation sought by the users. The search engine then returns a rankedlist of hyperlinks to these Web pages, with the links thought to be mostrelevant nearer the top of the list. In accordance with the presentinvention, a search engine returns a results list based on user input,and users have the ability to input information into the system to, forexample, affect the order of the documents or links listed in theresults list.

In accordance with the present invention, when a user is delivered apage containing a results list, he can choose to add supplementalinformation to the page, which will be visible to other users whosubsequently access the search engine by entering a query which is thesame, or similar.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a representative graphical userinterface (GUI) displaying a results page 100 returned in response to aquery in accordance with the present invention. The GUI allows users toadd, edit and view descriptions about the concept or concepts relatingto a query term and add, edit and view advice on how to search forinformation about the concept.

The results page 100 comprises a box 110 for inserting a query term, anarea 120 for displaying a description for a concept related to the queryterm, an area 130 containing a description of a different conceptrelating to the query term, an area 140 containing “See also” links toconcepts relating to other query terms, and an area 150 containing alist of links which will cause related query terms to be executed, andan area 180 of sponsored links. The results page 100 also includes anarea 160 containing the results list returned by the search engine. Thearea 160 also contains mechanisms 170 for entering user feedback andmechanisms 190 for saving links associated with each result returned bythe search engine. As described in more detail below, in a preferredembodiment the areas 120, 130, 140 and 150 are able to be edited, addedto, or otherwise modified by a user to display information presented toother users performing the same or similar queries.

As shown in the example of FIG. 1, when a user enters the query term“U2” in the box 110 and requests a search, the results page 100 isreturned to him. The area 120 displays a description of one conceptrelated to the query term “U2”, here a description of the band “U2”, asentered by users. The area 130 shows descriptions of a different conceptfor the query “U2”, here the U2 spy plane, as entered by users. The area150 displays query terms for related searches that the user may also beinterested in having the search engine execute, such as “U2 concerttickets” or “U2 ipod”, as entered by users or derived by algorithms. Thearea 140 contains “see also” hyperlinks to concepts relating to otherquery terms, as entered by users or derived by algorithms, such as“Bono” for the concept of “U2 the band” or “Dragon Lady” for the conceptof “U2 the spy plane.”

The area 160 contains the results of the search as well as user feedbackmechanisms 170. Using the user feedback mechanisms 170, a user is ableto rate how well the corresponding Web page matched what he was lookingfor. In other words, if a first Web page listed in the area 160contained relevant information about the rock band U2 sought by theuser, then the user is able to use the user feedback mechanism 170 torate the link with a high score (e.g., 5 stars). A second Web pagedevoted to the name of a clothing line called “U2”, irrelevant to theconcept sought by the user but listed in the area 160, can be rated witha low score (e.g., 1 star). In accordance with the present invention,when a later user also interested in the band “U2” searches with thequery “U2”, the results list returned to him contains the first Web page(ranked with 5 stars) closer to the top of the results list and thesecond Web page (ranked with 1 star) closer to the bottom of the resultslist, or not even listed at all. In this way, a user is presented with aresults list having only the most relevant results listed first. A usersequentially visiting the sites in the results list has a greater chanceof viewing sites most relevant to the concept he is seeking. The orderof the items in the results list is thus based on user feedback, inaddition to meta data and other information over which users have noinput.

Users are able to add descriptions 120 about a concept relating to aquery term, providing some background information about the conceptreferred to by the query or advice on how to search for informationabout that concept. Users are also able to modify, enhance or removedescriptions about the concept relating to a query term that havepreviously been added or modified by themselves or other users.

Users are able to add descriptions of additional concepts relating to asearch term, even if other concepts have already been entered. Forexample, for the query term “star wars” a description of the concept ofthe movie “Star Wars” is able to be added, including such information asthe plot, actors, and producer. Subsequently, users are able to click ona link 130, which allows them to add a description relating to the samequery term “star wars”, describing a different concept, for example“Strategic Defense Initiative or SDI”.

In alternative embodiments, concepts added, modified, or deleted inaccordance with the present invention are sub-categories (e.g.,sub-topics) of one another, co-occur in documents, or occur in astatistically-related manner. For example, the concepts “OperatingSystem” and “Linux” are a topic and a related sub-topic. Also, inalternative embodiments, concepts are determined to be related frompre-determined criteria, user-entered categories, and statisticalcalculations (e.g., how often the concepts appear together in adocument).

Users are able to add hyperlinks or “see also” references 140 linking toconcepts relating to different query terms. As one example, a user addsto the “See also” section of the concept of Star Wars the movie, ahyperlink to the concept of George Lucas the writer/producer for thequery term “George Lucas”. Users are able to modify, add, or delete “Seealso” references.

Users are able to add suggested queries for a concept that when clickedon, causes the query to be submitted to a search engine that returns aresults page 100 containing a results list 160, with associatedsupplemental information 120, 140, and 150.

The search engine is also able to generate suggested query terms using acomputer algorithm. For example, one such computer algorithm searchesdocuments to determine terms that often appear in the same document(co-occur), within a predetermined distance from one another, or with apre-determined density (i.e., occur at least a pre-determined number oftimes). The algorithm thus determines that the terms are related, andthe search engine offers the query terms as suggestions. Alternatively,the computer algorithm keeps a list of query terms, such as synonyms orword variations, which are also suggested to the user.

Users are able to add or save links to documents they consider to behighly relevant to the concept. This can be done by manually enteringthe links or by clicking on a hyperlink or icon 190 marked “Save”, orreferred to by other terms such as “Bookmark”, “Tag”, or “Add toFavorites.” Since different users will have different ideas about whichsites are most relevant, algorithms in accordance with the presentinvention determine the order of the sites listed. In one embodiment,the algorithm uses a “democratic” process, such that the documentsreceiving the most “votes” (e.g., “saved” by the largest number ofusers) are placed higher in the results list.

If the link to a document that is “saved” also shows up in the resultslist generated by the search engine, then an icon 165 can be used toshow that this link is also one that has been voted for by users. Also,below each search result is a “By” entry 167, which shows the name ofthe user who added the link so that it could be returned as part of theresults list, and a “Tags” entry 168, which lists the terms that theuser tagged the link with or that were generated by a previous search.

In accordance with the present invention, links to Web sites are able tobe listed in two ways, either as two separate lists: (1) the resultslist (algorithmic) and the user-entered links or (2) integrated into onelist, with the user-entered links marked with an icon as describedabove.

Two or more people are able to modify any of the information describedherein. As one example, a first user writes and a second user modifiesthe work of the first. The first is able to either “revert” or re-editthe work of the second. If two or more people disagree about whatinformation should be entered, they can communicate by some other means(e.g., a discussion forum, email, instant messenger) in order to resolvethe conflict and agree on what the entry should say.

If any two or more users are unable to resolve their disagreement aboutwhat should be entered, they are able to take their differences to an“editor” who can resolve the disagreement. The “editor” is responsiblefor a number of subject areas and has the authority to settle disputes,add or remove information, and ultimately to remove users who refuse tocooperate.

If a user enters information that others revert repeatedly, it can beassumed that the user is not entering information that people want tohave posted. For example, the user may be defacing or vandalizing theinformation in the subject area. A rule is able to be enforced thatrequires users who have had their entries reverted a predeterminednumber of times within a certain time period be suspended for somepredetermined period of time. This rule is intended to reduce the amountof vandalism.

Users are able to enter any kind of information, beyond any of thespecific types of information suggested here. As one example, for allactors, a link to their page at the Internet Movie Database(www.imdb.com) is entered. Or for cities, a link to the Weather.com pageshowing current temperature and weather conditions is entered. Or for asong, links to sites that sell the song, the lyrics, other songs by theartist, or even sites that plays some or all of the song are entered.

It will be appreciated that many modifications can be made in accordancewith the present invention. For example, user-generated feedback can beread from a file rather than input by a user directly from a terminal.Moreover, while the results page 100 shows areas such as “See also”links 140, it will be appreciated that in accordance with the presentinvention, results pages containing user-entered information can bedisplayed with any combination of areas, including or in addition tothose shown in FIG. 1. This information is used to make search resultsmore comprehensive, accurate, and meaningful.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of an Internetsearch application 200 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. The Internet search application 200 provides the ability forusers to input information to the system, thereby allowing other usersto receive more meaningful search results based on the user input. Theinformation is used to rank documents in a results list (e.g., re-rankthe results initially returned by a search engine) generated in responseto a specific query, or to add information that may be useful to userswho perform the same or similar search. The results list is thus able tobe “tuned” in response to user feedback to return more meaningfulresults, as well as to return additional information related to thesubject matter of the query.

In the step 205, the user submits a query to a search engine. Theprocess then continues to the steps 210 and 220 which are able to beperformed simultaneously. In the step 210, the search results list iscalculated, and in the step 220 the supplemental information (e.g.,areas 120, 130, 140 and 150, FIG. 1) is retrieved. Both steps 210 and220 proceed to the step 230, in which the results page (e.g., 100,FIG. 1) is sent to the user. The step 230 proceeds to any one of thesteps 240, 250, 260, and 270.

In the step 240, the user is allowed to add to or edit the supplementalinformation (e.g., areas 120, 130, 140 or 150, FIG. 1). Alternatively,in the step 250, the user is able to click on a suggested search link(e.g., area 130, FIG. 1); or in the step 260, click on a “See also” link(e.g., area 140, FIG. 1); or in the step 270, visit a Web site (e.g.,follow one of the links in area 150, FIG. 1). The step 240 loops back tothe step 230, and the steps 250, 260, and optionally 270, all loop back280 to the step 205. Alternatively, from the step 270, the user is ableto proceed to the step 290, where the query completes.

FIG. 3 illustrates the components of a system 300 in accordance with thepresent invention. The system 300 comprises a user client 305 thatconnects to a Web server 310. The Web server 310 is coupled to both acontent manager 320 and a search engine 340. The content manager 320 iscoupled to a data repository 330 for storing supplemental content. Thesearch engine 340 is coupled to a data repository 350 containingdocument indices, which in turn is coupled to an indexer 360. Theindexer 360 is coupled to a Web content database 370, which is coupledto a Web crawler 380. The Web crawler 380 is coupled to one or more Websites 399 over the Internet 390.

In operation, the Web crawler 380 navigates over the Internet 390,visiting Web sites 399 and populating the Web content database 370. Theindexer 360 uses the Web content database 370 to create the documentindex 350. When a user generates a query on the user host 305, the Webserver 310 transmits the search request to the search engine 340. Thesearch engine 340 determines which Web pages are probably most relevantto the query and, using the user generated feedback described above,creates the results list. The search engine 340 uses the user generatedrankings to order the results list, as described above, and returns theresults list to the user for display.

Also in response to the query, the content manager 320 retrievessupplemental information related to the query from the data repository330, including concept descriptions, other-concept descriptions, “Seealso” links and related query terms. This information is displayed, forexample, in areas 120, 130, 140 and 150, respectively, of FIG. 1. Thecontent manager 320 also allows users to add, edit, or removesupplemental information. The Web server 310 combines the results fromthe search engine 340 with the information from the content manager 320and returns the combination to the user. The content manager 320determines whether the user changed supplemental information and, if so,stores it in the data repository 330. The new or updated information isnow available to a later user running the same or similar search.

FIG. 4 illustrates the hardware components for an Internet searchapplication system 400 for use by a user 405 in accordance with thepresent invention. The system 400 comprises a client device 410 coupledover the Internet 420 to a Web server 430. The client device 410 is anydevice used to access the Web server 430 and configured to communicateusing Internet protocols such as, but not limited to, http (theHypertext Transfer Protocol) and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol).Preferably, the client device 410 is a personal computer. Alternatively,the client device 410 is another device including, but not limited to, ahand held device such as a cell phone or personal digital assistant(PDA) capable of presenting information using standards such as HTML(the Hypertext Markup Language), HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language),WML (wireless markup language), or the like.

The Web server 430 is coupled to both a content server 440 and a searchserver 460. The content server 440 is coupled to a data store 450 andthe search server 460 is coupled to a data store 470.

It will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that othermodification can be made to the embodiments without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A method comprising: a. managing a database in response to multipleuser inputs; and b. displaying search results from the database inresponse to a first search query.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thesearch results comprises a results list and supplemental data related tothe first search query.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein managing thedatabase comprises re-ranking elements in the results list.
 4. Themethod of claim 2, wherein managing the database corresponds to one ofstoring information related to relevancies of elements in the resultslist, blocking a link in the results list, and storing links todocuments related to the first search query.
 5. The method of claim 2,wherein managing the database corresponds to storing information relatedto relevancies of entries in the results list, blocking a link in theresults list, and storing links to documents related to the first searchquery.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the supplemental data includesa description of a first concept related to the first search query. 7.The method of claim 6, wherein managing the database comprises any oneof adding, editing, and deleting the description of the first concept.8. The method of claim 6, wherein the description of the first conceptcontains a link to a description of a second concept related to thefirst concept.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the supplemental dataincludes an index into a list of concepts related to one or both of thefirst concept and the second concept.
 10. The method of claim 8, whereinthe second concept is any one of a sub-category of the first concept, aco-occurrence of the first concept, and a concept whose occurrence isstatistically related to occurrences of the first concept.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein a relationship between the first concept andthe second concept is determined by selecting one of predeterminedcriteria, user-entered categories, and a statistical relationship. 12.The method of claim 1, wherein the supplemental data comprises a linkfor automatically executing a second search query related to the firstsearch query.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein a term of the secondsearch query is input by a user.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein aterm of the second search query is determined by a computer.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the computer-determined term is derived fromany one of its co-occurrence in a document containing a term of thefirst search query, its location within a document containing a term ofthe first search query, and a density of its occurrences in a documentcontaining a term of the first search query.
 16. The method of claim 1,further comprising using a suspension criterion to suspend an ability ofa user to provide user input data.
 17. A method comprising: a.submitting a query to a search engine; b. generating a search resultslist; c. retrieving supplemental information related to the query; andd. displaying a results page containing the search results list and thesupplemental information, wherein user input is used to modify at leastone of the search results list and the supplemental information.
 18. Amethod of displaying search results in relation to input from first andsecond users from among multiple users comprising: a. generating firstsearch results in response to a first query; b. receiving input from thefirst user; c. modifying a database in response to the input from thefirst user; d. receiving a second query related to the first query; ande. displaying to the second user second search results generated fromthe database.
 19. A system comprising: a. a Web server configured todisplay search results and supplemental information related to terms ofa first search query; b. a search engine for querying a database andproviding a search results list in response to user queries; and c. acontent manager for managing the supplemental information in response tomultiple user inputs.
 20. The system of claim 19, further comprising afirst data store coupled to the content manager for storing thesupplemental information.
 21. The system of claim 19, wherein thecontent manager is configured to receive the multiple user inputs forupdating the supplemental information.
 22. The system of claim 19,further comprising a display area for displaying the supplementalinformation, wherein the supplemental information comprises adescription of a first concept related to the first search query. 23.The system of claim 19, wherein the supplemental information comprises alink to a description of a second concept.
 24. The system of claim 23,wherein the content manager is configured to receive the multiple userinputs to add, edit, or delete the link.
 25. The system of claim 22,wherein the content manager is configured to receive the multiple usersinput to add, edit, or delete the description of the first concept. 26.The system of claim 19, further comprising an area that displays linksfor automatically executing a second search query related to the firstsearch query.
 27. The system of claim 19, further comprising a searchengine for organizing the search results based on the multiple userinputs.
 28. The system of claim 27, wherein the search engine isconfigured to organize the search results based on the multiple userinputs by ranking the search results.
 29. The system of claim 19,further comprising a user device for executing the Web server.
 30. Thesystem of claim 29, wherein the user device is configured to communicatewith the Web server using any one or more of HyperText Transfer Protocoland Wireless Application Protocol.
 31. The system of claim 29, whereinthe user device is one of a personal computer, a portable phone, and apersonal digital assistant.